Lent -
a
time of preparation, repentance and self-discovery
Many people think of Lent as a time of fasting and giving up something,
like chocolate, or red meat on Fridays. Lent, however, is not about being
miserable; it’s about entering into a time of preparation, repentance
and self-discovery leading up to Easter.
Lent provides an opportunity to learn what it means to follow Christ. This
makes the season an especially fruitful time for exploring spiritual disciplines,
not simply as an intellectual exercise for seven weeks, but as a chance
to experience what can become practices for a lifetime.
FAQs about Lent
Do we give up stuff for Lent?
Lent began as a period of preparation for baptism. In the early centuries,
adults who felt drawn to the Christian church were welcomed into something
like an apprenticeship during which they were mentored in Christian belief,
worship, prayer, and practices. The final weeks led directly to baptism,
which was celebrated at Easter, the great day of resurrection. Part of
the preparation for baptism included the discipline of fasting—for
example, doing without meat or abstaining from food for one or more meals.
In an act of solidarity, those who were already church members joined those
who were fasting. This is probably the origin of the custom of giving up
something for Lent. The point was to enter voluntarily into a spiritual
exercise intended to deepen one’s prayer life and heighten anticipation
of the great festival of the resurrection. If “giving up stuff” raises
spiritual consciousness and serves as an aid to prayer, to meditation on
dying and rising with Christ, and to reclaiming one’s baptism, go
for it! Fasting, undertaking some other spiritual discipline, or giving
up something are simply means toward the end of deepening the spiritual
life. If it’s just a pain, makes one feel like a martyr, or contributes
to a sense of spiritual superiority—then it’s better not to
do it.
What is Ash Wednesday? Is it really Presbyterian?
Although Ash Wednesday has not been very important for many Presbyterians
until recent decades, it’s as “Presbyterian” as repentance,
confession, and pardon. Presbyterians and others have begun to recover
Ash Wednesday in recent years, discovering in it powerful symbols that
have helped to lead us into the spiritual disciplines of Lent. Traditionally
the palms that we waved on Palm Sunday are burned to ashes and brought
out for use on Ash Wednesday. On that day, a minister, elder, or other
marks our foreheads with a cross-shaped sign, saying, “You are dust,
and to dust you shall return,” from Gen. 3:19. The ashes remind us
of our mortality, the brevity of life, and our need for confession and
pardon. At the same time, because the sign on our foreheads is cross-shaped,
it’s meant to remind us of our baptism. We who have died to Christ
will be raised with him. So the ultimate point of Ash Wednesday is to face
up to some hard realities, buoyed by our confident hope in the One who
raised Jesus from the dead and who will have the last word over our lives,
too.
